Loco Motive (26 page)

“Yes.” Judith tried to sound sincere. “Oh—I forgot that Mr. Peterson told us Trooper Pruitt had been called away. Do you know if it had anything to do with the tavern fight in Scuttle?”

“No,” Jax replied. “It was about the pickup truck that caused the crash. Maybe they found the driver.”

“Good,” Judith said. “I assume he had to get away on foot.”

Jax frowned. “Not if the pickup wasn't damaged. Excuse me, I still have to do paperwork.” She hurried off to the crew car.

Renie was leaning against the corridor wall. “Well?”

“What?” Judith asked. “When do we break into the
Z
s' compartment?”

Judith tried to look innocent. “Do you really think I'd do that?”

“Of course,” Renie said. She stared at the ceiling. “We've already hit Pepper's room, the Kloppenburgs', and had a once-
over-lightly of the Chans', the Downeys', and Wayne's roomettes. That leaves only…”

Judith glowered at her cousin. “We're going to sit, remember?” She marched into their room and settled down on the lower bunk.

“I'm shocked,” Renie said facetiously, starting to close the door.

“Leave it open.” Judith picked up her P. D. James book. “We can't act until Matt gets back from the bar car and everybody's settled in.”

“Whew!” Renie passed a hand across her forehead in mock relief. “I almost believed you.”

“Funny coz,” Judith murmured, opening her book and pretending to read while she kept her eyes and ears open.

For the next five minutes the only sound besides the train was an occasional “hmm” or “huh?” from Renie as she worked her crossword. “Aha! Aardwolf, that's what it must be, not aardvark,” she said in triumph. “That gives me an
f
for the first letter of the ‘sputter' clue.”

“Good,” Judith remarked, trying to block out Renie's commentary while listening for activity in the corridor or the stairwell.

“Okay,” Renie said after a pause, “‘sputter' is ‘fizzle.'” She tapped her ballpoint pen against her chin. “The word going the other way starts with
zy
and has another
z
in the middle. That's weird. These repeated letters are driving me nuts. ‘South American insect pest.' I've no idea. I need my dictionary to—”

“What?” Judith asked, finally focusing on her cousin.

Renie slid off the bunk. “My dictionary. It's in my overnight bag.”

“How big is it?”

Renie stared curiously at Judith. “My overnight bag? See for yourself.”

“No. Your dictionary.”

Still mystified, Renie searched her belongings before finally pulling out three thick paperbacks.

“Why,” Judith asked, “did you bring along a small lending library?”

“Three pleasure books, three for crosswords. I need sources for puzzle clues like 1936 Nobel Prize winner for physics and the currency of Botswana. Here.” She held up a thick, well-thumbed paperback. “Big enough to suit you?”

Judith held out her hand. “Let me see.”

Renie shoved the dictionary at Judith. “You want the puzzle, too?”

“Not yet.” Judith flipped to the dictionary's last few pages.

“Good grief, the print is so tiny!”

“I know,” Renie said, still annoyed. “Serves you right. Sometimes I have to use a magnifying glass.”

“Have you got one with you?” Judith asked. “I can't read this.” Renie heaved a heavy sigh. “Yes, it's in my wallet.” She dug into her purse, yanked out her wallet, and unzipped it with an angry gesture. “This is so damned stupid that I…Here,” she said, flipping the small, flat plastic magnifier to Judith. “Would you like some of my credit cards or just the cash?”

“Shut up,” Judith said, placing the magnifier on the page. “Oh, yes! This is interesting. Let me see the puzzle.”

Renie sat down again next to Judith. “Here. Keep it.” She tossed the pen to Judith. “Go ahead, finish it. You seem to have taken over.”

Ignoring the remarks, Judith carefully filled in the empty spaces and handed over the puzzle. “Well?”

Renie gave a start. “What's a ‘zyzzyva'?”

Judith's dark eyes danced. “Remember? The
Z
s' surname.”

Renie shrugged. “So? I still don't get it.”

“Look.” Judith pointed to the word in the dictionary. “Your clue was ‘South American insect pest.'” She paused as Renie read the definition.

“Oh!” Renie grinned at Judith. “No wonder you wanted to look it up. A zyzzyva is a weevil.”

Judith nodded. “That's a huge clue to the puzzle—and I'm not talking about the crossword variety. Now all we have to fill in are the rest of the blanks.”

“Assuming the
Z
s aren't the
Z
s,” Renie said, curling up on the bed, “who are they? Why did they take off with the Gundys? Are they connected to Pepper? Did they know Willie's stay was cut short by the accident?”

“I barely saw them,” Judith said. “I was surprised when they arrived because we should've been full, but the
Z
s implied they knew we had a vacancy.” She made a face. “I asked if they'd gone through the state association. The question seemed to catch them off guard, but I let it pass. They paid cash, so I didn't ask for ID, and they left early the next day.”

“Why choose such an odd name? It only calls attention to them.”

Judith didn't answer right away. She sat with her head down, unseeing eyes fixed on the floor. “Because their last name really is Weevil?”

“Wow! A relative?”

Judith nodded. “Ricky, maybe, Willie's son. But it doesn't make sense. If Willie wasn't Willie, why would Ricky and his wife show up at the B&B? Surely Ricky knew his father died five years ago. They wouldn't visit an impostor.”

“Because they wanted to prove he was an impostor?”

“Maybe, if Ricky was cheated of his inheritance. But why wait five years?”

“Good point,” Renie said. “Didn't you tell me the
Z
s called themselves Dick and Jane? Maybe Willie's son went by Dick. Ricky is a kid's nickname.”

“True.” Judith reached into her pocket and took out the wedding band that Libby Pruitt had found in room two. “The initials are
RK
and
JG
. The
J
could stand for ‘Jane.' But what does the
G
stand for? ‘Gundy'? Old Mrs. Gundy called her husband Julius, but the date is 1990, and her name is Bessie, which I assume would be for ‘Elizabeth.'”

“Or a variation,” Renie murmured. “When did Libby Pruitt find the ring?”

Judith grimaced. “She found it the same morning the
Z
s left. But I can't imagine why they'd go into room two.”

“Nobody suspicious stayed there during Willie's visit?”

“No. I checked the guest register after Libby showed me the ring. There's only a single bed and everybody who's stayed there lately seems innocent.”

“So,” Renie said, “someone who shouldn't have been in the room lost the ring or deliberately dropped it. Exactly where did Libby find it?”

“Under the braided rug by the window,” Judith replied. “Phyliss moves the rug fairly often. If…oh, oh. I just thought of something. That window looks over the front yard—where Willie made his first jump. I wonder if Pepper went into room two to watch. It would've been unoccupied during midday.”

“
RK
and
JG
don't fit Pepper's given first name or nickname.”

“They don't fit anyone connected to Willie or whoever died today. The
K
could be for ‘Kloppenburg,' but his first name begins with
C
. Except for being reclusive and what might be dried blood on a pillowcase, there's no connection.” A sudden thought hit Judith. “Or is there?”

“What do you mean?”

“Matt Chan diagnosed Mrs. K as having a mild heart attack. How hard would it be to fake one when the doctor has limited resources? What if the Kloppenburgs wanted to get off the train? What if they needed a legitimate reason for going to the hospital in Malta?”

“Not for the food. I get suspicious when they give patients a flyswatter instead of a fork.” Renie shuddered. “I give up. Why?”

“Wayne told us the body was being sent to Wolf Point for burial,”
Judith said. “There's no rush, since Pepper was going to make arrangements later. Originally, the body was supposed to be taken off in Malta. Maybe the Kloppenburgs didn't know she changed her mind. They might figure the body would be at the morgue.”

“Why bother?”

Judith shook her head. “Maybe they wanted to make sure the body on the one-way train known as the Big Adios really was Willie.”

Renie yawned. “Maybe we should forget it for now and go to bed.”

“Not yet,” Judith said. “It's only nine-something at home.”

“We're not at home and we move into our next time zone soon, which means it'll be…what? Almost midnight?”

“Correct—for once.” Judith stood up. “Let's check the
Z
s' roomette.”

“Ohh…” Renie sighed. “Sure, why not?”

The vacant corridor conveyed an eerie silence. Only the last two rooms were still lit up. Judith didn't know who occupied them, but wondered if the passengers were still in the dome or club cars. Maybe they'd made friends, an added pleasure of train travel. Unless, she reflected, you ended up getting sued for thirty million bucks by someone in your sleeper car.

The overhead lights had dimmed as the cousins moved on to the next sleeper, where the
Z
s had been staying. “B5,” Judith whispered.

The roomette was dark and the door wasn't locked. Apparently neither Jax nor Mr. Peterson had yet verified the couple's whereabouts, on or off the train.

Renie switched on one of the roomette's lights. The beds were as pristine as Jax had left them. Judith found three magazines, but none with names or addresses. The two overnight cases were the same ones the
Z
s had brought to Hillside Manor. Both were unlocked. The cousins didn't hesitate to open them and inspect the contents.

“Clothes,” Judith said. “Toiletries. Makeup. Nothing of interest.” Renie had the same result with Dick Z's case. “I can't find anything about the cases' owners. It's as if the
Z
s made sure nobody could trace them.”

“They had a reason,” Judith said, putting the case back where she'd found it. “Did the
Z
s know the Gundys were on this train? Dick Z told me they'd boarded on the other side of the mountains because they drove over the pass for the scenic view. Did they learn the Gundys were on board?” She looked around the roomette. “I don't see any Amtrak info. They must have it with them. No outerwear either. When the
Z
s hustled the old folks out of the dining car, they came back here, supposedly to get the old folks' coats. But the Gundys were in coach—the opposite direction from the dining car. I barely glimpsed the foursome by the motel. Everything happened so fast. Maybe the
Z
s took their own outdoor gear for themselves and the oldsters. Nothing incriminating was left behind.”

“Maybe there wasn't anything,” Renie said. “They couldn't predict the brawl and the gunshots, which is why the Gundys were so upset they let themselves be taken off the train.”

Judith thought for a moment. “What if the
Z
s knew there'd be an incident? The brawl might've been a setup.”

Renie was dubious. “You've speculated that the pickup wreck was contrived. I can buy that, but no one knew how long we'd be in Scuttle.”

“Why not? There aren't many towns on this route.” Judith leaned against the wall. “If I'm right about the accident being planned, who'd be able to drive the pickup and time it so the truck wouldn't be damaged, but the trailer would?”

Renie smiled slyly. “Willie or someone of that ilk.” She suddenly tensed, peering through a slit of open space between the closed curtain and the corridor window edge. “Shhh! I hear someone,” she whispered, turning off the light.

Judith moved to the bed. “Lock the door, get under the covers.”

Renie complied with the first order, but balked at the second. “I can't get the ladder in place that fast.”

“Then hide under the bed.” Judith slipped under the covers.

“Oh, for…” With a big sigh, Renie got on all fours and crawled out of sight. “We don't know who's out there. It could be anybody.”

“Shut up. I can hear them talking…”

The door slid open. Judith tensed.

“What the hell?” Wayne Fielding said under his breath.

“Close it,” Pepper said, also in hushed tones.

Peering out from under the bedclothes, Judith saw the couple beat a hasty retreat—and quietly close the door behind them. She caught only a few words before they passed out of hearing range.

“I don't get it,” Pepper said. “What did they do?”

“Don't ask me,” Wayne replied. “Maybe we don't want to know…”

Judith got out of the bed; Renie crept from underneath it.

“I thought I told you to lock the door,” Judith said, disgusted.

“I did,” Renie asserted. “Did you lock it after we came in?”

“No. Are you sure you didn't?”

“Ah…” Renie made a face. “Maybe. I assumed you didn't want anyone barging in on us.”

Judith's shoulders slumped. “You unlocked it when I told you…never mind.” She remade the bed before speaking again. “Is anything out of place?”

Renie scrutinized the roomette. “No.”

“Don't move,” Judith said sharply.

“What?”

“You've got a Post-it note on your butt.”